Experts seek green solution to garbage disposal

BEIJING—Finding a “green solution” for the disposal of Beijing’s garbage in the run-up to next year’s Olympic Games was a hot topic over the weekend as environmental experts discussed methods to improve the capital’s waste management efficiency.
“We must mobilize the whole society to counter garbage pollution so as to create a green Beijing Olympic Games,” said Dong Suocheng, a senior official with the China Society of Natural Resources, at the forum held on Sunday.
To ease garbage pollution, citizens need to raise their awareness of environmental protection and change their lifestyle and consumption habits so as to reduce total waste output, the famed environmental conservation scholar said. In addition, the garbage processing industry has to be developed in a more scientific way.
Statistics released at the forum revealed China’s urban solid waste storage volume had exceeded seven billion tons and occupied a storage area as large as 600 million square meters. About 250 million tons of garbage are collected from more than 600 Chinese cities annually and the volume is increasing by eight to ten percent each year. More than 200 cities also suffer from “garbage pollution,” a term referring to waste that cannot be recycled.
Dong stressed that garbage collection, classification, transport and processing need to be conducted more professionally and with greater attention to conservation. He said about 5.382 million tons of garbage was collected in Beijing in 2006, 92.5 percent of which was recycled.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi called on a group of Africa-bound experts and volunteers to provide good service to their African hosts.
At a farewell ceremony held in Beijing Friday, she urged the 100 professionals to dedicate their “expertise and youth” to “adding a new page to Sino-African cooperation and friendship”.
The expedition is part of China’s commitment to Africa that President Hu Jintao announced last November at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
The group features 58 agricultural and 16 malarial experts bound for 30 African nations, such as Mali, Sudan and Mozambique. Also included are 26 young volunteers who will work in education and medical services in Mauritius, Tunisia and Eritrea.
Moussa Bouh Odowa, the Djibouti ambassador to China, said China had sent many experts to Africa for economic and medical assistance since 1956. The new arrivals would help boost the development of the Sino-African strategic partnership.
In the past year, China has written off multi-billions in U.S. dollar debt owed by 28 African countries. It has also pledged to provide three billion U.S. dollars in preferential loans to the continent and to further open its market to African products.
Trade between China and Africa reached 52.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months and would surpass 70 billion dollars by year end, Wei Jianguo, Deputy Minister of Commerce, said earlier this week.

—Daily Mail, People’s Daily news exchange item